Information for Teachers



Information for Teachers

Rebuilding the City

Learning Objection: As a result of participating in the instructional activities on the Rebuilding the City page, students will gain knowledge about the architects and architecture of post-Fire Chicago. They will also gain skill in using inductive processes to construct a definition (of The Chicago School of Architecture).

Anticipation Guide for Rebuilding the City: You may choose to have students complete an Anticipation Guide and conduct a follow-up whole-class discussion prior to beginning work on the student page activities.

Video Clip from City of the Century (PBS, The American Experience): The Chicago School of Architecture is described in an 8-minute clip at approximately 2:08 to 2:15 (Part 2).

Student Activities for Rebuilding the City

In “The Rebirth of the City of the Century,” students are asked to examine two maps of Chicago, one from just before the Fire and the other from1893. They will then make a comparison to current Chicago. The students will use the “zoom in” feature of the Library of Congress’s Map Collection to look at individual streets and buildings depicted in these two maps. Using this feature takes some practice, and you may want to demonstrate its use. The comparison to contemporary Chicago can be done with multiple copies of Chicago street maps or with aerial photographs of Chicago, which are now available online.

The second activity, “Designing a New City,” and the writing task for Rebuilding the City support students’ ability to use an inductive process for defining/developing a list of characteristics of the Chicago School of Architecture. Students, independently or in teams of 2 or 3, will read short biographies of Daniel Burnham and Louis Sullivan and then examine photographs of ten buildings, five by each of the two architects. (You may want to make students aware of the contributions of these architects’ partners. Burnham worked with Root; Sullivan worked with Adler.) A follow-up whole-class discussion is optional.

The second major writing task of the unit is the last activity for Rebuilding the City. The students are asked to download and print copies of an I Chart in order to plan an essay defining/describing the characteristics of the Chicago School of Achitecture. It may be more efficient for you to download and print the I Chart and make copies for your class. A mini-lesson on the use of examples and counter-examples in definitional essays may be helpful.

Assessment: Assessment for most of these activities should be informal. The focus should be on the students’ ability to identify the characteristics of the Chicago School of Architecture. Assessment of the essay should be based on an adaptation of Spandel’s 6 trait rubric for informational writing. The adaptations should focus on the clear articulation of at least three characteristics of the Chicago School and the inclusion of examples from the work of Daniel Burnham and/or Louis Sullivan.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download